


Bedroom Floor // L.P.

by captainsunlinson



Series: Prequels - Made In The A.M. [2]
Category: One Direction
Genre: Best Friends, Coffee, College, Drug Use, Drugs, F/M, Gangs, Police, finding your self, mafia, relationships, young adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 09:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 15,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17485223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainsunlinson/pseuds/captainsunlinson
Summary: (PREQUEL 2)Liam wants to be a cop, but gets more than what he bargained for instead.





	1. Chapter 1

~Baby, heard you've been talking about me lately,

Telling all your friends how much you hate me~

 

 

-A/N - Wow, I didn't realized how detailed this is. Yikes.

-k

 

 

Liam, like anyone, was a slave to sleep. He wasn't a narcoleptic and he didn't have insomnia. He was in the middle, most days. This was of course was due to the large amounts of drugs that he took during the days, specifically heroin, and occasionally ecstasy. But due to his abnormal sleep patterns, sometimes he even slept in class. Which is where his story begins.

Someone in a black shirt with pink earbuds interrupted a math lesson in early February, holding a worn yellow note that had drops from the rain on it. "What is it, Toby?" The professor sighed, stopping the lesson to look over at the attendant the office had sent over.

"Got a note for Liam." Toby announced to the lecture hall.

"Which one?" Liam yelled back, and the professor nodded at Toby, as there were two Liam's in his classroom that semester.

"Liam Payne." Toby said, rolling his eyes and ready to just get on with his day.

"Liam." The professor yelled. "I know he's in here, because I took attendance and he was here." The other Liam shrank into his chair. "LIAM!" The professor shouted, and a brown head popped up from the far right.

"Yes?" Liam's angelic voice rang through the room.

"Note!" The professor said, and the whole room laughed. Liam stood, getting his things, while the lesson continued on.

Liam ran down the steps, head pounding, to reach Toby and get his note. "Greenley wants to see you." Toby said, eyeing the frazzled boy up and down. "I reckon it's not good news."

Liam looked down at the note. Liam Payne, to Mrs. Greenley ASAP.

Crap.

\---

Mrs. Greenley was not some Dolores Umbridge resembling woman, like most people would believe. She was a nice middle-aged woman with kids of her own and a family, who was genuinely nice and hadn't been jaded by the world yet. She understood that people had tough situations, and she tried to compensate for that.

But she was at her wit's end with Liam.

"Your grades haven't gotten better in the last quarter." She said, setting Liam's file down. Liam just sighed. "You sleep in class, according to your professors, and I've never seen you in another shirt but that one."

"I have other shirts." Liam said, choosing only that point to react to.

"The point is, Liam, I don't know if you're at the right point in your life to be attending college to get a criminal justice degree. Most people don't pursue that before becoming a police officer. But in your condition, I'm not certain that the academy would accept you."

"I've never been the best at the books. I came to learn. I spend lots of time in the library." Sleeping, he might add.

"You're not good for the numbers, Liam." Greenley said, blowing out a puff of air that pushed her bangs up. After that, they floated back down. Liam watched them instead of paying attention. "Maybe if you clean up, get your life together, you could come back in the fall. I would personally take a look at your case as a candidate for readmission."

"Is this advice or are you forcing this upon me?"

"You're not going to pass any of the classes that you're taking right now, Liam? And the school board has told me that I am supposed to cut you out of the program." Greenley sighed, looking scared for his reaction.

Liam just sighed, expecting something like this to happen. "That's probably a good idea." He sighed. "For the school, for the numbers, for you, for me."

Greenley sighed in relief and nodded. "I'm glad you are able to see the positives of this situations. I look forward to hearing from you in the future, if you decide to come back."

Liam smiled, and then stood and shook her hand. He took his backpack. "Bye, Mrs. Greenley." He walked out of her office after waving goodbye, then down the hall, out of the building, and towards the dorms.

Greenley was sad to see such a positive individual like him go, but the situation was out of her hands.

\---

Liam didn't own many personal items, so it didn't take him long to pack up his stuff and take a subway away from the college. His backpack was crammed full, and he carried one box, and that was really it. On the subway towards one of the cheapest motels in the city, he listened to ABBA on his phone with his dollar store earbuds.

Only one ear worked.

It was easy to get a room with the limited money that he had left.

His family had agreed to pay for his first two years of college, and they had lived up to that promise, even after disowning him. Even now, the only thing that connected Liam to them was the fact that they still paid his phone bill for him every month. And as for his personal savings and everything, he had three hundred left. Enough for a cheap room for a couple nights. Maybe.

He would have to get a job now - to pay for the room and for food, and to survive really.

But, his plan for the moment was to get high.

He set his belongings in the closet, and took out the needle. He really needed to sterilize it better, but he was pretty careful about the location of it at all times. Since he was an addict. And since he was an addict, a minute later, the drug flowed through his veins, up to his head, creating a lovely feeling.

As he drifted off, he realized that he was watching cartoons. Spongebob it seemed. He would rather be watching one of his favorites - like Toy Story or Harry Potter, but for a motel, this would be as good as it got.

Many hours later, when he came out of his high and came back to the world, the cartoons were still on, but the world wasn't as beautiful now.

It was never the same as when he was high.


	2. Chapter 2

~But who you calling up when you get lonely?,

When you get lonely, yeah~

 

 

Liam peeled his face out of the motel carpet. He wasn't sure at what time in the night that he had fallen out of the bed, but now he knew that he had to take a shower to wash whatever was on the carpet, off of himself.

He was glad that there was at least complimentary shampoo and conditioner, as he didn't have either of those things. A good lather of his body, and then a quick dry off and back into the clothes that he almost always wore.

Contrary to Mrs. Greenley's belief, he did own more than one shirt. He just chose not to wear the others. But today he did. He put on a black t-shirt and some black jeans that still fit him from high school. And already his body itched for another hit. There was no more school for him anymore, and he knew that he was not in any shape for job looking today, so he might as way spend his day high.

"I'm out." He said, in disbelief, looking at the bag. "This is not the ideal circumstances for the day. Obviously.'

Liam grabbed his wallet, checking to make sure there would be enough cash in there. Maybe he could stretch if he didn't eat until he found a job?

Walking and the subway was how everyone got around in New York. Liam didn't have enough money for a trip on the subway, so he started walking to The Dream Bean, his favorite coffee shop.

Liam Payne loved dogs, whom this shop let in, and this coffee shop carried weird flavors, which he also loved. So, that was why he loved The Dream Bean. He knew the workers names too. The owner was Natalia, and the two baristas were Olivia and Greg.

"The usual?" Olivia sighed, watching the ragged man come to the counter. Liam nodded slowly, taking in Olivia's look of long black hair and brown eyeshadow which always looked effortless on her. "One cinnamon latte." She shouted over to Greg, who simply nodded at Liam's presence.

Liam paid in cash, and then got his coffee and was on his way after petting numerous dogs. He walked with his drink, not letting it cool down in the slightest. He continued to walk to the part of New York that sold everything that he needed.

He didn't take in the scenery. He was on a mission to get his drugs. But it was spring, and the trees on the sidewalk were beginning to blossom and grow back, and the snow was melting, albeit slowly.

It was still early enough to where all of the crackheads would be asleep, but to where all the meth-heads wouldn't have gone to bed yet. Liam was neither, but he knew that there would someone, at least, who could hook him up at this hour.

As if by magic, Liam approached an apartment building where four men sat on the steps, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee from their own kitchens. Liam nodded to the one in the back, the one that he recognized as having sold him something in the past. No one acknowledged him presence, however. It was as if he was a ghost. "Hello?" He asked. They greeted him cordially. They knew why he was there - they had to. "I need some stuff." He said, looking shyly at the ground.

The four of them got up and walked inside, shaking their heads at him.

Was is too early? Liam thought. He had never been over here this early, but then again - it was only ten o'clock, maybe.

He kept walking, feeling all the imperfections in his sneakers that had walked over half of the city multiple times. He passed a lot of people that he didn't know. Some families sending children off to school and such. The second person he came up too was Liam's most familiar dealer. "Hi." Liam said cheerily. "I have money."

He thrust it at the man, who grabbed Liam's wrist. "Go home, kid." He said.

"What, why?" Liam asked. "I have money, and I need...I need my usual."

"There are some sketchy characters walking around these parts. Don't think their narcs, but they don't look too good, nonetheless."

"More sketchy than you?" Liam asked, being serious, but the dude took it as a joke and busted up laughing.

"I'd say come back to these parts tomorrow. They'll probably be gone by then."

"I can't wait." Liam begged. "Just take my money."

The dude took Liam's cash, stuffing it down Liam's own shirt. "Go home, before something bad happens."

Liam kept walking angrily, towards a crackhouse where he could probably steal something or other if nothing would come of the situation. As he decided to cross the street however, a van stopped in front of him, the sliding door opening from the inside as is by magic. But however, someone just simply opened it. From the inside.

Liam recoiled, going back to the curb where it was safe. "Hey, little man. Mind getting in the van?" The person who opened the door stated, looking him up and down.

"I'm good." Liam said. "Got a full schedule today."

This person pulled a gun from their waistband, turned the safety off, cocked it, and pointed it at Liam. "I wasn't requesting, I was demanding." Their eyes showed lazy enthusiasm, but eager to shoot and kill some random kid with a heroin addiction.

Liam got in the van, not wanted to be killed before he even hit twenty.


	3. Chapter 3

~You be saying real, real nice, real nice things,

When I'm touching you~

 

 

"Can I ask why?" Liam asked softly inside the dark of the van.

"No." A Russian accent said back to him.

"O-okay." Liam replied, firmly deciding that it would be better if he shut up. He wasn't that worried, surprisingly, even though he was in the back of a van on the way to the slaughterhouse. He hadn't done anything wrong to upset any Russians! He just wanted heroin!

There were no dramatic stop and starts, but just a rather sudden jerking on his arm, and the same Russian voice telling him, "Get out of the van. Sit in the chair." Liam followed his instructions, hopping down from the van, and walking into the big empty room. There was another man there, Liam's age roughly, tied to a chair.

The room was exactly as scary as it looked - deathly cold and looked like a torture chamber. And despite his own best interest, Liam let himself be tied up in the chair next to the stranger, who laughed while watching the encounter happen. "I'm Alex." He chuckled.

"Liam." He sighed, watching his ankles be tied down with rope after his hands. "I'm Liam."

Another chair was bought into the room, and set in front of Alex and Liam. A middle-aged man sat in the chair, with graying hair, and stared at them with a skeptical look. Sad, too, maybe. "I'm Sebastian."

"Hi, I'm Liam." Liam said. "I'd hold out my hand so that you could shake it, but I'm a bit tied up at the moment."

Sebastian didn't laugh at the joke, but Alex did, his lungs sounding hoarse, as if he had late-stage emphysema. "I'm Alex." He said, coughing.

"Okay, now that introductions are out of the way..." Sebastian sighed. "We are what you Americans call the mafia. And we're Russian. So, the Russian mafia. And now, you belong to us."

"Says who?" Alex asked, shaking his body, trying to get out.

"We'll pay you a lot of money to do what we want you to do." Sebastian said.

"Yeah, I'm in." Alex said. "Yay! My first real job!"

"Liam?" Sebastian said, turning to the other one of the pair.

"What are the conditions?" Liam said with a blank stare.

"No drugs or you're out." Sebastian told them, looking back and forth between the two boys. "And, sorry, Liam, but you don't really get a choice. You're in."

"Okie dokie." Liam said. "Untie us now."

"Do you just pick up bad people to turn them into good people?" Alex asked as his ankles were freed by a pocket knife produced from Sebastian's cargo pants.God, those things were atrocious. Sebastian shrugged and untied his hands, and then Liam's hands and ankles. Good thing that he was wearing jeans, or all of his leg hair would've been ripped off by this industrial grade tape. Poor Alex.

The pocket knife went away and Sebastian stood up straight, handing them each a business card. "Be here in the morning for training. 8 a.m."

"It's like 8 a.m. right now." Alex complained.

"Spend the day detoxing. I expect both of you to be in bad shape tomorrow, but fully hydrated and full of sleep." Sebastian escorted them both back to the van that they had been brought in. Liam really didn't understand how the mafia worked - they were there less than five minutes and now he was being taken back to his hotel.

"Where to?" The driver asked this time. Liam gave him the name of his hotel, not bothering for Alex's address, since the guy seemed less than keen to give his up.

"Can I stay with you?" Alex asked. He had dark black hair, prominent facial features, and large dimples. He was kind of cute in a puppy-dog sort of way.

"I don't even know you." Liam said.

"I've got nothing else." Alex said, looking at the ground of the van they were in. "All I've got is $10 and the clothes on my back."

"Yes, you can stay." Liam said. "But I'd like to take the $10, then. As food. The rest of my money goes toward paying for the room."

"Of course." Alex said shyly, getting the money out of his wallet and handing it over.

\---

Several hours later, there were some TV dinners in the empty mini fridge, but neither of them had the strength to eat. Alex was currently asleep in the bathtub, covered in his own puke. Liam had a bowl on the bedside table, too weak to care. He just kept chugging water, hoping the pain would go away. It had to.

He turned the same cartoons on, hoping to let his mind drift off with ease.

It wasn't going to be easy. No sir.

But then again, life isn't easy, is it?


	4. Chapter 4

~You be getting real, real, real, real, real jealous,

When it wasn't you, oh~

 

 

Alex was asleep on his air mattress that afternoon, about a week after they had first been recruited by Sebastian. The physical training that they were undergoing was starting to help their detox, but it was definitely a rough ride. Liam was starting to get used to the pain, however. 

Meet me in 20, Sebastian texted Liam, who promptly rolled over to the other side of the bed and kicked Alex in the stomach. "Time to go. Wake up time."

"No." Alex said resultly.

Liam switched off the daytime television that was playing The Cat in the Hat movie. "Yes, Alex. Sebastian needs us in 20. We have to catch the bus now."

Alex started to get up and frantically get dressed, so Liam began to do the same as well. Alex wore black jeans and a red shirt, while Liam wore a wife beater tank top and his black jeans. Black jeans just seemed to be the style as of late. Or maybe they were just the style of junkies and poor people.

Just a few moments later, they were walking towards the bus station, where, just their luck, a bus would appear in three minutes or less. It was a good deal, and was shaping up to be a better day than usual.

\---

"What's your story?" Liam asked while they were loading heavy boxes into a truck. Very sketchy work done by people who didn't ask questions.

"My story?" Alex asked, swallowing nervously. "Like?"

"More specifically, how'd you get into drugs? I want to know." Liam was quite bold in that moment, not understanding that it was a very sensitive subject for most people, but especially Alex.

"I did gateway drugs." He sighed, grabbed another box. "Cigarettes and weed as a teenager, and my older brother kind of pressured me into heroin a bit."

"Kind of a sucky older brother." Liam chuckled to himself.

"He's dead now." Alex said, startling Liam. "He was a junkie. Overdosed."

"Wouldn't that make you wanna quit?" Liam asked, stopping his work. Alex definitely needed a hug.

Alex did not want a hug, and kept working. "I couldn't. I was too far in. You know how it is. Now tell me your story before I start crying or something lame like that."

"High school party. No gateway drugs. Just...heroin. I had some rich friends, and it was a high class party, and I got high. Once you start, you never stop."

"Until now, it seems." Alex laughed. "What's your family life like?"

"I've been disowned. The goodie-two-shoes turns into the bad boy in the occult tale of the century." Liam put a hand on his forehead. "Woe is me." Alex chuckled after his monologue was finished and put the last box into the truck.

"All done." Liam said, turning to Sebastian, who was sitting and reading a magazine in the corner.

"Here." He said, holding a twenty dollar bill in either hand. "Go buy yourselves something nice."

The two of them took the money and proceeded to leave, knowing that their work was done for the day. As they walked towards the bus station, they talked about their money issues. "We have got to start saving. Wherever we can, really."

"What's our priority, do you think?" Alex asked.

"Ultimate elite, an apartment. Second level, a car. Lower tier, a phone for you." Liam said, having already thought the situation out. Alex nodded, as that solution seemed pretty legit.

"Why does your family still pay your phone bill?" Alex asked, sitting down on the bench and having Liam save his twenty in his wallet.

"I guess they still love me or something?" Liam smiled. "I can only hope."

Getting on the bus, Liam pulled out his earbuds so that he could have a little time to collect his thoughts and breathe. They were only from the dollar store, but they were all he had. And when he noticed Alex looking at him shyly, he gave Alex the other earbud, and soon, the sweet voice of Freddie Mercury filled their ears as the bus took them in the general direction of the hotel they lived at.


	5. Chapter 5

~And every now when my iPhone, iPhone rings,

I be telling you,

I told you, I told you, I told you~

 

 

Sebastian calls or texts, and they go. That was how it always was. And that night in May was no different. Middle of the night, a blaring ringtone. Liam put the phone to his ear and let Sebastian's voice fill him in. "Get down here. And get ready for an all nighter. Both of you."

"What's going on?" Alex asked, struggling to wake up. He grappled for his own phone but missed, and just pulled the blankets tighter around him as he went back to sleep.

"Sebastian." was all Liam said, and Alex groaned and got up.

"He's really got to make these jobs not when I'm sleeping." He grumbled.

"You're always sleeping, though." Liam chuckled, ruffling up his friend's hair. "But he said it looks like an all nighter."

"We do not get paid enough for all nighters!" Alex screamed, looking for his jeans.

Liam chuckled, shook his head, and started looking for his shoes.

\---

Alex was driving a truck, while Liam tried to find a good station as they drove. Their mission was to drive all the way from New York, where they had picked up the truck, to New Jersey. Alex was in charge of the GPS. Liam was just in charge of tunes.

His shifty eyes once again rested on the pistol that was laying on the floorboards. "For protection." Sebastian had told them. "Use that when it's life or death. And don't let anyone steal the shipment, or I'll use that on you."

It was enough to spook Liam, but Alex seemed calm about the whole scenario. Liam was a goodie-two-shoes though, and didn't want to kill anyone. "Dance with me, Alex." He said, turning up a song and doing the macarena.

"That doesn't even fit this song, you cretin."

"Just wait until the beat drops." He said, and sped up his dance moves. Soon, the song and his movements were lined up and Alex was dying of laughter.

"You're amazing, Liam." Alex said, yawning.

"I know." He said, doing a pretend hair flip.

At that moment, a bright light was shined in Alex's side mirror, and they felt a jarring impact. Liam was thrown into the window, hitting his head, and Alex screamed, trying to control the truck unsuccessfully, before it ran off the road.

Liam could only hear snippets of what happened for a moment before he finally got himself together. "Liam, you're bleeding!" Alex screamed. "Liam, where's the gun!" Alex screamed again. "Liam, help!"

The driver's side door opening was what had thrown Liam back into the present. Alex was so terrified that he hadn't locked his door, and someone had dragged him out of his seat after severing the seatbelt.

Liam grabbed the gun, shaking, and climbed over the middle console, and exited the driver's side door. "Where's the keys?" A thick accent screamed at Alex, who was held up by his hair with a knife to his throat.

They did not get paid enough to deal with anything like this.

Liam's heart was beating in his ears. He couldn't breathe. "Hey." He said, softly. But the man didn't turn. "Hey!" He said, a little bit louder. 

 

"Liam." Alex said, panickedly, and the man turned, still holding the knife to Alex's throat. Several drops of blood formed there, and Alex cried out again. "Liam, shoot him!" The man seemed shocked by the gun in Liam's hand, but noticing Liam's scared appearance, it was like he knew that he wouldn't use it.

Liam froze, the gun falling from his hand, and he backed against the truck. Growling, Alex kicked the man's kneecap, grabbed the gun off of the ground, and shot him in the head. Then he whipped his head to Liam. "Thanks for nothing."

\---

No music played now.

Alex made Liam call Sebastian to take care of the body, and Liam's voice was shaking the whole time. What made him even more terrified was that Alex appeared fine. He wasn't shaken up like Liam was. Not at all.

When they got to the drop-off location, the other people took all of the shipment after saying the code word, and then they were simply driving back home now. "We need gas." Liam said quietly after a while, noticing the simple fact that Alex hadn't brought up. "There's a debit card here." Opening the glove box, he showed Alex the card. Then, he pointed to an exit with a gas station off of it, and Alex exited, not responding to him at all. "I'll fill it up."

Liam got out of the truck, feeling tears brimming in his eyes. But he wasn't going to cry. He was a member of the mafia! Then why didn't he just kill him? He had the training, knew how to work the gun, would take a bullet for Alex.

But he couldn't kill someone.

His fatal flaw?

Perhaps.

Seeing the blood spatter on the side of the truck, Liam felt himself getting nauseous. But he held back his dinner, and got back into the truck once the tank was full.

To his surprise, Alex was crying in there. "I hate you. I hate you." He sobbed. "Why didn't you help me? Why?" Liam just hugged Alex, who accepted the hug. The whole time, Liam whispered apologies in his ear.

Taking someone's life was just wrong.


	6. Chapter 6

~You said it was over (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor~

 

 

"Tell me everything." Sebastian said, pulling the two of them by the backs of their shirts into the room. "Before I kill you."

"The truck was ran off of the road. He pulled me out of the car! I killed him!" Alex screamed. "Shot in the head!"

"Where were you, Liam?" The older man craned his head to the right to look at Liam, and Liam's stomach fluttered nervously.

"My head got knocked into a window and I was unconscious!" Liam screamed back at Sebastian. That was the story that him and Alex had agreed upon in the car.

Sebastian stared at Liam for too long, however, and Alex cracked. "Liam had the gun! Liam couldn't kill him! Don't blame him, he just couldn't kill them!"

"Go home!" He said, throwing them on the ground. "We'll talk in the morning." Once he had left the room, Liam helped Alex up, who looked distraught.

They got on the bus, staring silently ahead the whole time, never making a sound or uttering a word. Neither of them knew what to say or what to think.

Back at the hotel, when they walked inside, Alex collapsed on his air mattress, and Liam took more care getting into bed. He took his shoes off, put his socks in the laundry. Threw his jeans on the floor and his shirt on the end of the bed. Plugged his phone in, and then, finally, turned out the light.

"Night, Alex." He said, softly.

"Night." He said to Liam, who was already getting comfortable and falling asleep.

But Alex, across the room, knew that he wasn't going to be able to sleep until he dropped dead of exhaustion. So he laid there for maybe twenty minutes, trying not to think of the blood and of death, until he crawled up onto the bed and shook Liam awake. "Get up, please." He told him.

"What? Why?" Liam asked, confused.

"I can't sleep, so we're going out."

Liam didn't object. He turned on the light, unplugged his phone, took his shirt off of the end of the bed, picked his pants up from the floor, took his socks out of the laundry, and put his shoes on. "Ready, then?"

Alex nodded like a sick puppy, and the two of them walked out of the hotel room and down the stairs. "Where to?" Liam asked, trying not to yawn.

"Tattoo parlor." Alex said quietly.

Liam nodded simply. He had a couple tattoos, most of them were pretty immature, but still. He'd be there for Alex if Alex needed him. I mean, the two of them had detoxed together and that was pretty stressful. Going through stressful times kind of bonds some people together.

"Tattoos or piercings?" The hipster at the front counter asked. Surprisingly, their whole body was not covered in tattoos. The portions that were, however, were tasteful and classy, and well, hipster.

"Tattoo." Alex said. "Just me."

"We got a free guy. Go on back."

Liam followed Alex back there, putting in earbuds to put on some Justin Timberlake and drown out the screamo music playing. Alex started talking with a guy about placements and styles, and Liam wandered the shop, looking at the designs on the walls. He wasn't much of a spontaneous tattoo getter, but when he saw a particular design, he pointed at it, and someone came up behind him.

"That'll look good on your arm. Right here." A tattooist said to Liam, touching his arm.

"Do it then. Four of them." He said, too tired to comprehend what he was saying. "In black."

Liam laid down in the chair, yawning. His arm was propped up, and Liam focused on his music. He fell asleep soon enough.

When he woke up, his tattoo was done, and Alex was gone. "Did he pay?" Liam asked the hipster at the front desk.

"Yeah, no." He laughed.

Liam shelled the money out of his wallet, thanked everyone at the shop, and then walked out. In the neon lights, he admired his tattoo - four arrows on his forearm. Kind of similar to the Chevron logo.

And as he walked back to his hotel, alone, he wondering if his and Alex's friendship was more one-sided. Was Liam doing all of the giving, and Alex, all of the taking? Could Liam even trust Alex anymore?

What kind of a person leaves their friend asleep in a tattoo parlor on a Wednesday night, after all?


	7. Chapter 7

~You said it was over (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor, yeah~

 

 

Alex, despite being a light sleeper, was never once woken up by the ringing of a phone. But he definitely woke up the second that he heard the front door to their room open that night. He threw himself onto Liam's bed, crawled over Liam himself, and turned on the light.

Liam sat up, worried and confused.

Sebastian stood in the entryway to the room, looking menacing. " Are you here to kill us?" Alex asked, trying to hide behind Liam, who shoved him.

"No. I need Liam to come with me, though."

"Good, because then I can go back to sleep." Alex crawled back onto his bed, and Liam got up. Sebastian sat in the chair in the corner, waiting for him to be ready.

The two of them walked out of the room, and around to the back of the hotel, where Sebastian's jalopy was. Liam got into the passenger seat, and he definitely secured that seat belt tight around him.

"Is this a job?" Liam asked, albeit quietly.

"Of sorts." Sebastian said back.

It had been a while since Alex had killed that guy. Liam had tried to erase it from his memory in order to make looking forward easier.

The radio was turned up to some local country station. Liam didn't care for country, but he knew that even Alex liked to listen to it on occasion.

His nerves weren't soothed by the music. Sebastian usually called if he needed them - he had never picked them up before. And Alex and Liam were a package deal. So this means that either Liam did something good, or he messed up really bad.

They drove for longer than Liam liked. He thought that maybe he was being driven out to the desert to be slaughtered, and his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. But the streets grew familiar. They passed by The Dream Bean, and Liam smiled at it, wondering if he was ever going to have coffee from there again.

Eventually, Sebastian began to drive through the streets where drugs were commonly sold. Where Liam had gone looking for a score a couple of months earlier, and had been picked up by the mafia. Sebastian laughed as he watched Liam look around. "Good memories, huh?"

Liam didn't respond, just kept a tight grip on his phone until the car stopped suddenly, in the middle of the road. No other cars filled the streets.

New York was silent.

Sebastian turned the car off, unbuckled, and reached into his door for something. "Get out of the car." He told Liam, who didn't hesitate. "Come over to my side."

Liam felt himself getting dizzy and lightheaded. Sebastian simply handed Liam a gun. So this was a suicide, then? Liam did what he was trained to do - turned the safety off and cocked the gun.

All of a sudden, Sebastian popped the trunk of his car open.

A blurry figure jumped out of the trunk and made a run for it instantaneously. They ran down the road, limping slightly, and Sebastian pulled Liam after him. "You have to kill him."

"What?' Liam asked, heart physically stopping.

"Kill him before he gets away and spills all of our secrets."

"I can't kill someone." Liam said, watching as the man fell over. He was screaming now. Screaming for help. But the crackheads that were still awake were just going to think that it was the voices in their heads.

Sebastian dragged Liam into the light, so that he could get a good look at the man's face. It was the same man who had denied Liam drugs and told him to get on home before something bad happened. This was a good man. "Kill him!" Sebastian shouted. Liam couldn't do it. He couldn't raise his gun. "Prove your loyalty!"

"Kill him, or I kill you." Sebastian said, and Liam heard a trigger cock.

Three seconds later, a gunshot went off.

Self-preservation always wins.


	8. Chapter 8

~Baby, why you always act like you don't want me?,

Don't make me bring up your dirty laundry~

 

 

Time passed, as it always does.

Liam never admitted to what he did that night - he was afraid that if he said it out loud, he would never be able to handle his emotions again.

One day, almost a month later, Liam and Alex were working, when Sebastian abruptly stopped them, clearing his throat loudly to get their attention. "You guys are good." He said, smiling.

"Thanks?" Alex asked, body pointed away from Sebastian. Liam had his attention fully focused at the ground, since it was clear that he wanted to speak to the two of them.

"The people above me have noticed your good work." Sebastian handed them each an envelope. Alex ripped his open greedily, but Liam waited for an explanation. "It's money, but with a purpose. Alex, yours is for a car, if that's okay with you, and Liam, that is so you can re-enroll in college in the fall, and get back into the criminal justice classes that you were taking."

Liam's eyes watered. "This isn't fake?"

"It's probably a test to see if we'll blow it on heroin, but who cares about heroin?!?" Alex danced around the floor. "Tell those people thank you, Sebastian!"

"Of course." Sebastian said, nonemotional. "Just...please don't spend it all on heroin."

"We're not idiots." Liam said, wiping his baby tears away. "I'll just spend it all on tuition and books and stuff."

Sebastian actually cracked a smile.

\---

That August, Liam sat in class again, not sleeping, in a better place. But his mind that day was elsewhere.

Examples were put up on the screen, and Liam wrote them down quickly, solved them quicker, and then went back to doing some extra math in the margins. He was working out how much, per month, that he could give back to the family of the man that he killed. After a lot of searching, he had found their address, and planned on heading by there this afternoon with a hundred dollars and some muffins or scones or something.

Liam was still unsure of how to process the fact that he had killed someone. And he knew that he could implicate himself by simply going there, by mailing a check there every month. But he knew that he had to do this - the family already lived in a bad side of town, and had lost their father figure. They needed the money more than Liam did - even if he desperately wanted out of that hotel room.

"Alright, that's it for this class." The professor said, and Liam neatly packed up his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. He felt very 21st century, and it was a vibe that he was digging. "Great job today, Liam!"

"Thanks! See you tomorrow!"

Liam walked down the road. He wasn't as close to his hotel as he was used to, and another bus didn't run for a while, so he just decided to walk to The Dream Bean. He went infrequently before, but due to being in school again, he was a regular again. "The man, the myth, the legend! Liam Payne returns for another cinnamon latte!" Olivia said, dancing behind the counter, and almost slipping on the floor.

"Watch it." He said, chuckling. "Small cinnamon latte, and two blueberry muffins, and one chocolate chip one."

"Giving yourself diabetes?" She asked, tucking a long black hair behind her ear. "Because goals. Also, same."

"No. Some of my friends were hungry, so I thought that I'd get them something while I was here."

She scoffed. "You have friends? I don't believe it."

"OLIVIA!" Natalia, the owner, yelled at her. "Be nice to the customers!"

Olivia gave Liam a look. "Have a nice day, sir." She thrust the bag and his coffee at him, and he simply waved and left the shop. His hands were too full to pet the dogs he saw. Sadly.

He walked some more, letting the familiar route fill his brain. He drank his drink, and tried to keep the treats from getting stolen or pooped on by a rogue pigeon that some old lady had probably named Kevin.

Once he went up to the apartment building, he climbed five sets of stairs, and he put the envelope into the bag full of muffins. Then he put the muffins on the doorstep, rang the doorbell, and ran away.

His heart was pounding, but he didn't want to see them - not in person. He knew that it would just make it harder. And he could never, never, tell anyone that he killed someone.

Never.


	9. Chapter 9

~We always on and off until you're on me,

Until you're on me, yeah~

 

 

Liam had his earbuds in, just a few weeks later, when someone tapped his shoulder as he walked to where Alex was picking him up. "Liam." The student said panting. Liam recognized him from his math class. "There's a party this weekend, and I wanted you to come. It's not my party, but it's going to be awesome, and you mentioned the other day how you needed to let loose a bit. Will you come, bro?"

Liam nodded, with a fake smile. "Of course. Text me the details?" The student added his information into Liam's phone, and then Liam's into his own.

After that, Liam got into the passenger seat of Alex's semi-nice car. "Who was that?" Alex asked, eating a Big Mac.

"He was just inviting me to a party. Don't know if I'll go. Sounds pretty lame."

"Do it. You won't. Coward."

"I like to stay in."

"The more we stay in, the more Sebastian calls us up to do stuff."

"And then we get more money, you idiot. So that's a good thing."

"You need to socialize. Have a life outside of the hotel room and work." Alex and him just simply called whatever they did work. They didn't really have a job description, and they couldn't just blurt out that they worked for the mafia.

"Fine. I'll go." Liam sighed. "Happy?"

"Yeperdoodles." Alex said, being his weird self. Liam just sighed again.

\---

Of course, to make sure that he'd go, Alex drove Liam all the way out to the party. The two of them were basically a married couple. Alex even picked out his outfit - made sure to show off his tattoos and accent all of the parts that needed accenting. He was positive that his best friend was going to find someone that night.

In a way, he did.

They just weren't human.

Liam walked into the party, trying to act like he wasn't socially awkward and listening to Lana del Rey through his earbuds. But he couldn't hear her singing over the dubstep and speakers playing rap. Why did it always have to be rap?

He immediately threw back a red solo cup full of who knows what, to ease his nerves. Liam wasn't invited to parties often. He didn't know anyone there, really. And he really just wanted to go to bed after a long hard day.

But the next couple hours were a blur of him dancing and drinking and laughing. And eventually, he was in a small back room with a group of others. His first thought was that they were playing Spin the Bottle, but when he saw the small bags of pills being passed around, his brain decided to come back to the conversation.

"Liam?" The friend who invited him asked, holding out a tablet in his hand.

Liam didn't have to guess to figure out what it was.

It was x.

Ecstasy.

Just once wouldn't hurt right?

"Sure." He said, letting his "friend" place it right on his tongue.

It dissolved, and a minute or two later, a feeling of pure, well, ecstasy, ran through him. "I've missed this!" He shouted at the the top of his lungs.

"More shots!" Another voice screamed, before Liam lost control of his brain again.

He woke up in his bed the next morning with no recollection of how he got there, Alex fast asleep on his air mattress across the room.


	10. Chapter 10

~You be saying real, real nice, real nice things,

When I'm touching you,

You be getting real, real, real, real, real jealous,

When it wasn't you, oh~

 

 

"Pirouette, and do the splits!" Liam said as he did the dance moves, causing Alex to double over in laughter. Liam had been a speed demon doing his section of loading the truck, and Alex was still doing his part while Liam goofed off. "I'm a ballerina, Alex!"

The ecstasy that Liam now took on the regular had made Liam super-productive and really extroverted. He had record high grades, was burning calories like crazy, and seemed to be a better person.

Liam began to spin faster and faster, and eventually fell on Alex, causing them both to fall over. "Are you on drugs?" Alex laughed. "Calm down." After thinking for three seconds, he realized that Liam may actually be on drugs. He looked at his wide pupils. He felt his racing pulse from the dancing. So, he repeated the question. "Are you on drugs?"

"Alex, of course not!" Liam said. "I was just being an idiot. Let me help you finish up." Liam quieted down, humming his favorite songs under his breath until the two of them had finished loading the truck. Alex watched Liam as he went about doing these tasks, and finally, he walked over to where Liam's jacket sat on the chair, and he dumped out the pockets onto the table.

Seven bags of pills fell out, and Alex just sighed.

"Don't tell." Liam said to Alex, trying to hide the pills. But Alex is already screaming their bosses name.

Liam feels betrayed and wants to cry.

Sebastian ran in, probably expecting to see bloodshed. "What do you want? I'm very busy!"

"Liam's on drugs." Alex said, head held high. "Just thought that you should know."

Sebastian put his palm over his face, the universal sign of, I do not get paid enough for this. "Alex, mind stepping out for a moment so that I can talk to Liam?" Alex wordlessly stepped outside.

"How long?" Sebastian simply asked, not letting Liam say a word.

"One week." Liam replied in a small voice. "X."

"You know the rules." Sebastian said. "Any drugs and you're cut."

"Yes." Liam said, not standing up for himself.

"It's been fun, Liam. We'll need the money back that we gave you to go back to college. Just give it to Alex and he can bring it back."

"Okay." Liam put his jacket on, trying not to cry. This job was all he had. And Alex was too. But now he had neither.

"Drugs aren't everything, Liam. I know that you didn't grow up with the best coping mechanisms, but there's therapy for that." Liam ignored Sebastian's advice, walking out the back door, where Alex was leaning against the door. He was startled by Liam's sudden appearance, walking away.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know." Liam said simply, walking off.

And he kept walking until he got back to the hotel.

\---

That night, when Alex got back to the hotel, his air mattress was deflated, the hotel room was clean, and all of Liam's things were gone. There was an envelope full of money on the T.V. stand, the fridge was still full of their food, and there was a note on the bed for Alex.

I don't blame you, Alex. You were just doing what was right. Sorry for my abrupt exit, but I can't stay there anymore. And it's probably better if I don't see you around anymore. But know that you're my brother and I'll always be there for you.

-Liam

Alex was lost - Liam had been with him the whole way, and he had nothing out there for him. How was he supposed to just let Liam die out there on the streets? Was he just supposed to let Liam disconnect himself from him?

Despite all of his thoughts, he did.

Alex didn't see Liam for three years, and then they shared a tender kiss while watching Extreme Couponing. But that was three years later. This was now.


	11. Chapter 11

~And every now when my iPhone, iPhone rings,

I be telling you,

I told you, I told you, I told you~

 

 

Liam didn't feel like a changed man, that next morning, walking down the same streets as always, going to get his cinnamon latte and then find a job, hopefully. He knew that he couldn't go back to school, now that all of his money was reduced to a thousand dollars in his bank account.

But what he could do was get his coffee.

In a twist of fate, when Liam arrived at The Dream Bean, there was a sign on the door. 

HELP WANTED.

Liam didn't know how to make coffee, but he was good with people, and especially dogs. So maybe he could talk to Natalia today. "What size?" Olivia asked, as he approached the counter on that busy morning.

"Medium. What happened to Greg?" He asked, wondering after her other coworker whose job was now vacant.

"He quit. He's just done with Natalia and coffee in general. What's the tea with you, today, sis? You look like you're not having the best of days."

"I got fired." He said. "And I still live in a hotel."

"Well, you could apply here. Then we could see each other all day, every day."

"I was gonna ask Natalia about it after I got my coffee."

"She likes you, and she hasn't had anyone ask yet, since Greg quit yesterday afternoon, but I think if you really charm the pants off of her, you've got the job, Lima Bean."

Liam got really excited, taking his coffee and going behind the counter to Natalia's office. Olivia gave him directions, and once he was there, he knocked on the door, trying to be confident but not too confident. Also, his outfit was atrocious, but he showered last night. It wasn't a good shower, though, because he was just upset and crying the whole time, but hey, what was new?

Natalia opened the door, standing there in her full glory, and her The Dream Bean apron. "Liam." She said, recognizing him as one of the regulars. "What is it?"

"I saw that you had a job opening? I didn't have time to prepare anything, but I was wondering if I could possibly interview for the position?"

"Is the counter busy, right now?" Natalia asked him, since he had just come from in there.

"No." He lied. Wow, the mafia really changed his morals. He killed someone and now he was lying for his own benefit?

But it worked because Natalia let him inside her office, and he took a seat in one of the chairs. "I was just finishing up some interview questions." She laughed.

"I'm going to be honest with you." Liam sighed, trying to stop his leg from bouncing up and down. "I don't have much experience with coffee making. But I'm a people person, and I love dogs, and I get along great with Olivia. I can put 130% in every day, and come in early and stay late, and accept the lowest pay possible. I'm a fast learner, and I can get references -" Sebastian would be a good job reference, right? "Or, you can talk to my school counselor, or my regular counselor, or my mom. And I can start right now, like right now, like this second and -"

"Slow down." She said. "I know that usually, this is a long process, but if you bring me a resumé before the end of the week, you can start right now." Natalia went into a long list of rules and technical jargon, before standing up. Liam hugged her.

"Thank you so much. You won't regret it, I promise!"

"Olivia will get you a new uniform and she'll train you on everything!" Natalia walked Liam back to the front counter, where Olivia was cleaning the counters.

"You got the job?" She asked, excitedly. "Can I hug you?"

Liam hugged Olivia. "Wow, you're much skinnier than you look from the other side of the counter."

"Triggered." Liam laughed. "Why, Olivia?"

Olivia took Liam to the back, while Natalia worked the counter for a moment, to get his uniform. It was pretty custom. There was a black t-shirt that had a dog and a cup of coffee on it, as well as their logo, and the aprons were black and white striped, and then they could wear whatever pants they wanted. Which for Liam was his iconic black jeans.

"What music do you like? Because us baristas control what music plays in the shop."

"I love Queen, Justin Timberlake, Lana del Rey -"

"I think me and you are going to be good friends, young Liam." Olivia said, a bright smile on her face.

"I hope so, otherwise working with you would be terrible." He said, headed towards the bathrooms to get changed.

Once he was back, Olivia showed him all of the equipment. "We'll start with cinnamon drinks, okay?" She showed him how to make his cinnamon latte, and then she whipped out a fresh cup. "I think you'll like this one. Snickerdoodle latte."

And thus, Liam's iconic drink was born.


	12. Chapter 12

~You said it was over (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor~

 

 

Liam had worked at The Dream Bean for several months when winter rolled around. As usual, he hated the snow and the cold, and couldn't wait for the despairing heat. But at least his hotel room had heating, so he wasn't cold at night.

And with winter, and with December, came Sophia.

Sophia Smith was a regular at The Dream Bean, with long brown hair and brown eyes, and the cutest corgi, Apple.

Liam had been so overwhelmed with memorizing the menu for the past couple of months that he hadn't gotten to know the regulars yet, but he remembered Apple's name at least, this day that she came in.

"Hello." She said, finally arriving at the front of the line. "One medium raspberry truffle hot chocolate."

"Would Apple like a treat?" He asked, smiling.

This was the first day that Olivia had left him to the counter all by himself. She deserved a day off, really, since she rarely ever got one, and Liam was ever so happy to fill in.

"Of course." She said, and Liam bent over the counter to hold the treat out to the small dog, who sucked it up out of Liam's hand eagerly. "But, I think you're the real treat here."

Liam's face turned red - the whole face too, not just the cheeks, and the brunette winked at him as she left the coffee shop, leaving five dollars on the counter, and taking Apple with her. In the aftermath of that moment, Liam giggled.

\---

"Raspberry truffle hot chocolate. Medium." A sweet voice said, and Liam pushed Olivia aside to take Sophia's order.

Sophia was holding a camera, and didn't have her dog with her. She snapped a couple pictures of Liam, who glared at her from behind the register while accepting her debit card. She giggled while he got her drink, and handed the treat to her dog. "Delete those photos!" He yelled as she left the shop.

"Never!" She shouted back, giggling and running away.

Liam turned to his coworker, who was bringing out a new tray of scones. Once she put them all on the shelf, there were two extra on the tray. She held both of them up for Liam to see. "This is you, and Sophia." She said, smashing them together. "Please just kiss already, you two are the cutest thing that I've ever seen."

"Shut up!" Liam screamed at her, blushing wildly.

A couple days later, Olivia handed the developed photos of him to Liam when he came in late. "Your girlfriend was saddened that you weren't here this morning."

"I had an appointment." He told her. "But let me see them."

All of the photos had been beautifully edited and Liam didn't look ugly in any of them, like he thought he would. With the photos, inside the envelope, was Sophia's number. He put it into his phone, but was terrified to call her, or even text her!

He doesn't have time to do that, as of late, since he's moving into an apartment finally. Olivia helps him move when the coffee shop closes at night. And as of today, he'll be officially moved in and can reliably pay rent every month and still eat.

And Sophia wasn't a part of his plan.

But maybe she'll have to be now.

\---

The day after that, when Sophia came in for her coffee, Liam had a bag of homemade dog treats for Apple. "I made these." He said, holding them up. "For Apple."

"Cute." She said, taking one out of the bag and letting her dog eat it. "She seems to like it. But you're still the real treat, Liam."

"So I've been told. What size?"

"Let's go with a small today." She says, and Liam starts preparing her drink.

"What do you do, Sophia?" He asks.

"I own a photography business. Did you like the pictures?"

"I love them." He smiled at her. "They're amazing."

A minute later, Liam handed her her coffee and took her debit card. "Treats for my dog, but nothing for me but my regular coffee?" She mused, eyebrows raised.

"Well, what would you like?" He asked demurely, licking his lips.

"A date." She told him. "Preferably with you. Preferably Friday night."

"Fine." He smirked. "Friday night. Walk on the pier, dinner, and ice cream?"

"Only if I can bring my camera." She said, taking her debit card back.

"Deal." He smiled back, watching her walk out of the shop.

"Finally." Olivia sighed, once Sophia was gone. "You guys are going to be an amazing couple."

And they were. For three years, at least.


	13. Chapter 13

~You said it was over (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor, yeah~

 

 

Three years passed - full of ecstasy (literally), Sophia and Liam's happy relationship, and his job at The Dream Bean. He was able to pass off his never ending enthusiasm and twitches as ADD for this long, but it all began to crash down the day that Alex walked into the shop, after three years. 

Liam was working the front counter, as fate would have it, dancing with Olivia to Beyoncé. "Watch the counter, Liam." Olivia scolded him, pushing him towards the register.

"Hello, what would you like?" Liam said, looking up into Alex's eyes. His smile dropped.

"Medium Americano." Alex said, still in shock.

Liam started to shake as he made the drink, and Alex leaned in close. "At least it's not heroin, right?"

Alex looked good. Healthy, nice clothes, and new tattoos. The mafia was good for him. And who knew how many people he had probably killed since Liam saw him last?

Liam looked at the ground, handing the drink over. "Off that since December." His voice was defensive, and Olivia noticed that he was uncomfortable.

"Want me to take over, Li?"

"Yes, please. Can I meet you outside?" Liam asked. "So we can talk?"

"Yeah. I have a minute." Alex shrugged.

Liam took off his apron and went out the front door a minute later. Alex sat on the curb, looking lonely and staring into his phone. Liam sat down next to him, anticipating a fight for whatever reason. "You look good." He started the conversation with.

Alex nodded, turning his phone off. "I feel good. I'm just..good."

"Did you find anyone?"

"I dated around a bit, but no one has stayed." Alex said. "You and the girl inside?"

"No. She's my best friend. I've been dating Sophia for 2 and a half years almost." Alex smiled at him. "And I've worked here that whole time."

"They've got good coffee." He smiles. "Want to hang out tonight? You can come over, we can drink and catch up? Now that we're both in a better place?"

"I'd like that." The two of them exchanged numbers and Liam went back into work.

"Who was that?" Olivia asked incredulously. "Nothing gets you worked up like that."

"Just an old friend, Olivia." Liam said back, shutting himself off. And for the first time in three years, he was quiet and reserved for the rest of his shift.

\---

"Wow." Liam said, jaw dropping.

Alex had a nice apartment that was fully decked out, with a great view of the city, and there were so many empty cases of beer on the floor throughout the apartment. "I've gotten a couple of raises." He shrugged. "And business is good."

"Good for you." Liam said, while promising to himself that he would never let Alex over to his terrible apartment.

"Beer?" Alex said, already tossing it across the room to Liam. He caught it, and within a couple hours, had drunk at least 10, as well as several tequila shots.

They were watching Extreme Couponing, laughing excessively, and just having a good time.

A note to mention: whenever Liam gets super drunk, he gets super affectionate. So then, in that moment, he was sitting on the couch, head on Alex's shoulder, and eventually, Alex initiated the kiss by turning Liam's head up. Neither of them had any inhibitions left by this time.

Liam sat on Alex's lap, a skinny little drug addict, making out with the successful member of the mafia. Alex lost his shirt somewhere in the process, and Liam had hickeys on his neck.

After a while, Alex pushed Liam away, picking up his phone to call an Uber. Liam went back to cuddling his friend, and fell asleep until Alex heaved him into the elevator to the ground floor and pushed him into the Uber. "Take him to this address." He said, showing the Uber driver the address listed under Sophia's contact in his phone.

That night, a worried girlfriend tucked her drunk boyfriend into bed, kissed his forehead, and fell asleep next to him again.


	14. Chapter 14

~You said it was over, you said it was over,

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor, yeah,

Oh, my bedroom floor~

 

 

"You look like you've been ran over." Olivia said disgustedly, the next day when Liam walked into the shop at 5:30.

"I don't remember last night." He said, obviously shaken. "I went over to my friend's house, and then woke up at Sophia's."

"You have hickeys on your neck. So, whatever happened, it must have been wild." Liam's eyes widened, and he tried to start his day, but it proved hard. His movements were sluggish, and Olivia noticed. "Go home. Go home, okay? I got it. I'll tell Natalia that you called in sick. You look like you're about to pass out."

Liam sat down at a chair, breathing heavily and trying to bring himself to pick up his phone. But he couldn't. Olivia started to panic, then, not knowing how to help. "I need to get the muffins out of the back, and then I'll call Sophia to come get you. I don't know how you got here without dying."

Olivia left, her long braid trailing behind her as she went to go collect the muffins. Liam leaned over, trying to catch his breath. His sides were in immeasurable pain, and he stood up to see if that would help any. But it didn't, and he reached for Olivia's hydroflask to try to help his suddenly dry mouth.

But his hands never grabbed it, and they failed to grab the edge of the counter too, as he fell down down down, like Alice, and hit the floor unconscious.

\---

"Good morning, sleepyhead." A familiar voice said to Liam, and he opened his eyes to see his girlfriend there. "You had us all worried."

Through a quick glance around the room, he realized that he was in the hospital, an IV in his arm, giving him fluids. "What happened?"

"You passed out. Olivia called an ambulance. The doctors are doing some bloodwork, and they're just giving you fluids. How do you feel?" Sophia was in his face, giving him a headache already. Being overbearing. But he felt safe having her here. There's no one else but Olivia who he'd want here with him.

"Not good, obviously." He sighed. And after taking a deep breath, he started to panic. Because he was a drug addict, and they were running his labs. He had to get out of there, but without alarming Sophia or letting her know the whole story behind it. "Sophia, we have to leave."

"You're too sick to walk, idiot."

"We have to go. Now."

"What has got your knickers in a twist?" She said, eyeing him and not letting him up. His weak legs flailed uselessly.

"I tried ecstasy last night. That's probably why I'm so sick and if they find out, they'll arrest me." Liam continued to squirm, but Sophia held him down.

"I doubt that they'll arrest you. There are too many junkies in this city, and you're just a dumb kid who was out with friends."

"I'm sorry." He hung his head, and the curtains were suddenly pulled back, revealing a very stern-faced doctor.

"Hi, Liam. I'm Doctor Kearns." He said, taking a seat. "We did a couple of tests while you were asleep, including some rushed blood results. The organ that is causing you so much pain is your kidney. Your right one to be specific. It has, for unknown reasons, stopped working. I can give you a better explanation for it when you're feeling better, but for now, that is simply what is happening. The phenomena looks like it started happening quite some time ago, but you drank a very high amount of alcohol last night, and your other kidney couldn't handle the amount of toxins that it had to process. We're going to take you up to the dialysis lab to stop your pain immediately, and then we can talk about everything else, okay?"

Liam felt the bed rolling, and Sophia grabbed his hand, mostly comforting himself.

The rest went rather quickly, with new IV's being put into either arm, and soon there was blood flowing out and in of him, and his body was being cleansed of the toxins. Once everything was set up, the doctor continued talking to Liam, and he tried to pay attention. "I saw your labs, and I know that you do ecstasy regularly." Sophia was sitting in a chair across the phone, talking to someone on the phone. "That's going to have to stop. Your kidney is only going to get worse with how much you drink and use drugs. With all of the built up toxins in your body, you will probably need to do dialysis for the rest of the year at least. Once or twice a week to help. But no alcohol, and no other odd substances. At least until you can handle it in moderation."

The doctor left a short while after that, and Liam started to fall asleep, feeling better. When he woke up, he was still hooked up to the dialysis machine, but Olivia was sitting next to him, playing Candy Crush on her phone. "What's up, nerd?" She asked when she noticed that he was awake. "I came to make sure you didn't die."

"Thanks." Liam said sarcastically. "Love you too. What time is it?"

"Like 6 o'clock. Sophia went home to get some clothes for you and get some dinner. And I took over watching you. Doc said you'll be done with dialysis in a couple minutes."

"Natalia knows?"

"Yeah. You've got the rest of the week off to recover. She hired a temp for the week, from some staffing company. You can call her when the week is up, if you need more time." Liam smiled, knowing that a week was plenty of time for him to detox and get better.

"Thanks, best friend."

"So, what's the deal? Are we gonna start eating salads and working out together now that you have a bum kidney?"

Liam shrugged, fixing his hair. "I mean, I guess I have to get healthier. I can't eat Chinese three times a week."

"Yeah, that's a bad habit you definitely have to drop. We'll figure it out, okay?"

"I know." Liam found himself tearing up. Olivia gave him a side hug.

"Don't worry, Liam. I know it's a lot, but it's all going to be okay." She smiled, and Liam - like an idiot - believed her.


	15. Chapter 15

~Your clothes are saying something different now~

 

Liam stomped his feet angrily on the floor of his kitchen, wanting to scream and cry. His bank account was empty. And rent was due tomorrow. All of the appointments and the dialysis, and the trying to get healthy had really drained his bank account, given the fact that Liam had never been able to afford health insurance.

And on top of it all, he was sure that Natalia was going to fire him soon. Due to all of his appointments, he had shifted to working part-time rather than full-time, and the temp became a part-time worker too, picking up Liam's dropped shifts.

Head hung low, Liam walked to the bus stop to get to The Dream Bean. He had a shift today, and Natalia had asked to talk to him before it started. And Olivia knew too - so they had been trying to enjoy their last shifts together. It used to be fun and uplifting, but now that Liam was losing everything, he was just depressed.

"Hey, Olivia. Hey, John." He said as he walked in, knowing that if John was there, it meant that Liam wasn't really scheduled. Olivia handed him his snickerdoodle latte, and gave him a forced smile.

"I'll send you a list of part-time jobs today, okay?"

"Thanks, Liv. You're amazing."

"Coffee's on the house. And every single time you come back, okay? You're part of the family." John made a face, knowing that that was against the rules, but Olivia outranked him since she had worked there for so many years.

Liam took his coffee, saluted his best friend, and walked into his bosses office. "I know what this is about, and I don't blame you. My life is a mess right now." He told Natalia.

She closed her eyes, furrowing her brows. "You know I love you, Liam. You're one of my best workers, and I'm glad you understand."

"I need to get my life fixed, and fix my physical health."

"When you're better, you can always come back, okay? I'll fire John in a heartbeat to bring you back."

"Thanks."

"I'll give you some severance pay, okay?"

"I'll accept anything."

"A reference to wherever you work in the future. You've got it."

"You're the best, Natalia." Liam hugged his ex-boss, and then walked out of the coffee shop. He gave his worn uniforms to John, who wrinkled his nose up in disgust and left the two of them alone.

"This is it, you rat." Olivia said to him.

"It's not like I'll never see you again."

"Promise?" She stuck out her pinky. Liam intertwined their pinkies together, and took his coffee, waving. He walked out the door sad, but slightly optimistic.

\---

Liam rode the bus back to his own apartment, using his time to start looking at cheaper ones. But nothing is cheap in New York City. He would probably be better off if he moved somewhere else, but he loved the ambiance there. He loved everything about New York - it was why he had moved there when he started university.

It was fun looking for a while, and he did that for a while when he returned to his apartment, until it was time for him to catch the bus to Sophia's for dinner.

"Hello, love." She said, already knowing from texts about him being fired. "I ordered Chinese." Wow, she really didn't understand anything about Liam trying to be healthy, huh? But he was too emotionally distressed to care today. He ate voraciously, trying to eat his emotions away, which was obviously a healthy coping mechanism.

"I'm broke." He said, almost ready to break down in tears. "I can't pay rent tomorrow, and I just lost my job."

Sophia came to his side, rushing in to hug her long-term boyfriend. "Just move in with me, okay, love? There's plenty of room here, with me, you, and Apple, and it'll be fun."

"Okay." He said, sniffling and going back to eating. He felt helpless again, like he had back when he was kicked out of college for the first time, and had nothing left. His thoughts wandered for a while as Sophia talked about her day. "We've been together for a long time." He sighed. "Should we start talking about marriage?"

Sophia evaluated the idea in her head. "I think that maybe, this isn't the best time in our lives. I'm not saying never, but like, you're having medical issues, and you're just moving in with me for the first time, and you need to get a new job."

"No, I understand." Liam said, smiling. "Like it's not the best time, but if I asked, sometime in the future, when things are better, would you say yes?"

"Duh." Sophia said, kissing him over her small table.

"I'll start looking into more jobs in the morning."

"You can always come be a photographer with me."

"That sounds so boring to me." He shook his head. "I mean, if you love it, you love it, but to me, I know that I wouldn't like it.

"It's an acquired taste."

"Today was kind of a bad day." Liam said, getting up to throw all of their trash away and collapse on the couch.

"Tomorrow will be a good day." Sophia said, petting her dog.

"I sure hope so." Liam said, in a sarcastic tone of voice. Then he closed his eyes, and he was asleep a minute later.


	16. Chapter 16

~You wanna break up just to fix it now,

Oh, baby~

 

 

Liam sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the floor, as Sophia got home from work. He had a new job at some convenience store, working weird shifts, mostly at night. He still had a while until he had to catch the bus.

"We don't have enough money for all of our bills." Sophia said, coming into the room. "When does your next paycheck come in?"

"Next week."

"I think it might be better if you got your own place again." Sophia said, hip out to the side, weight resting on one leg.

"What?" Liam said, falling back on the bed, literally taken aback. It was just supposed to be a normal day. "But it seems like everything is going fine?"

"There's just not enough money for both of us to stay here."

"Why?" Liam asked, genuinely curious. He thought things were going well.

"The bills have gone up now that you're living here, and I'm buying more food and all of your money goes towards your medical bills."

Liam closed his eyes, knowing that she had analyzed the situation fully and this was the conclusion that she had reached. "I'll start looking after work, okay?"

\---

Considering his lack of money, he got one of the worst apartments in town. One room, cracked tile, and it was questionable as to whether the water would turn on for his shower on any given day. But he had a roof over his head, and a job.

He hated the job, but still.

He was finally started to look and feel better, however. He was starting to eat more healthy meals, and take vitamins, and doing light exercise most days of the week. He took up a more full-time position at the corner store, not feeling secure enough to go back to working at The Dream Bean. He didn't want to hurt Natalia like that again.

Despite what he told Olivia, he and her had drifted away a bit since he was fired. Calls turned into texts, which turned into a once-a-month rendezvous. And Olivia knew that it was that time of the month again, and Liam knew that too when she showed up outside of his work after his shift, standing in the pouring rain of October.

She wordlessly held out a coffee too him. He took it, and they sat under the awning of the bus stop, having several minutes until the next one arrived. Liam stared at the coffee, and at Olivia, at what his life was, and he started to sob.

Olivia laid her head on his shoulder and let him cry. The bus came. They didn't get on it. Another bus would be there eventually. "I know that life sucks." She said.

"It sucks so bad." Liam sniffled.

"Hey. How about we go to a costume party, eh?"

"Like as a halloween thing?"

"Yeah. There's a little party that someone invited me to next weekend. We'll make a day out of it. We'll go get some costumes - I'll buy you one, don't worry. We'll go out to lunch - I'll buy, don't worry, and then we'll go party our heads off."

"I wish my head would fall off."

"Same." Olivia said, brushing her wet hair out of her face. If Liam was romantically interested in her at all, he would've kissed her. Instead he sipped his snickerdoodle latte - a lucky treat that he hadn't had in several months, since The Dream Bean wasn't close to where he lived or worked.

"This is amazing." He smiled.

"I know." She smiled back.

The next bus that arrived, they got on this time. They talked about Sophia and Liam's relationship, which was improving again, now that he had moved out and was getting better physically, and they talked about work at The Dream Bean, and how much they hated John and wearing the itchy uniforms.

Olivia hung out at his place for a while, cooking herself some dinner from his selection of foods. They watched a couple of comedic movies, until it was very late at night. And then Olivia remembered that she had work in the morning, so she decided that she had better catch the bus. "Saturday, okay? I'll come over in the morning. I'll try to be over around 10."

"I'll see you then." Liam said, yawning, and curling up into a ball. He fell asleep as she left, snoring quietly since he was so exhausted.


	17. Chapter 17

~You said it was over (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor~

 

 

"You're not awake, are you?" Olivia said, standing on top of Liam's bed, staring down at him. He grumbled, looking up to see his best friend.

"I am now." He said with a glare. He grabbed a shirt from the floor, throwing it on. Olivia finally got down, walking back into the kitchen and producing a coffee for him. He gave her a satisfied look, and sighed as the drink went down his throat. The wonderful taste of a snickerdoodle latte.

"Big day, remember? Halloween party?"

"I know, Olivia. Chill out. I have a medical condition. Give me a second to wake up."

"Someone's grumpy."

"Do you want to eat my left bicep?"

"What?"

"Left bicep. It's a more original insult."

"It makes me uncomfortable."

"Can I shower first?"

"No."

"Too bad."

\---

Liam took an extraordinary time getting ready, and Olivia made him his healthy breakfast before the two of them set off to the bus station. "Do you ever get tired of riding the bus?"

"I watched an episode of a show where all these people caught this plague from riding the bus, and I was shook, so yeah, I do get tired of riding the bus."

"Would you ever move to a smaller town? One where you could actually get a car?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Liam laughed, swatting away the cloud of smoke that he had just walked through.

"I think one day I'd move to a different big city. Like L.A. or something."

"Just become a beauty guru and then you'll fit in there."

"Never." Olivia said with wide eyes. "Now walk faster. We're gonna miss the bus going the direction we want it to go."

\---

"So what vibe are we feeling?" Liam asked his best friend, staring up at the costumes that stretched up the wall. "That one looks cool."

"I'm not going to be Cleopatra, you dolt. That's so overdone, and I don't have the energy or talent to do eye makeup."

"A superhero, then?"

"I know you want to be a superhero." Olivia teased her friend, who was an actual three year old, and watched Toy Story to help himself fall asleep. It was a comfort thing - what could he say?

"Batman?!?" He screeched, proving her point. "Olivia, I have to be Batman."

"You sure you don't want to be like a cowboy or something and be Andy?" Liam's face fell into deep thinking, and Olivia tried not to laugh.

He ended up just going as Batman, and Olivia picked a bumblebee. And while they ate lunch at a cute little bistro, Liam had an amazing idea. "I can be your wingman. Help you find a guy. At this party."

Olivia choked on her soup. "What? No."

"This is going to be so much fun." Liam said, with a devious smile. "Nothing but the best for my Liv."

"Help me, Jeffrey."

"Who's Jeffrey?"

"Eat your lunch, Liam. And stop coming up with wild ideas."

\---

Liam held out a red solo cup to Olivia. "What's in your cup?" She asked, concerned.

"Sprite." He said.

"Are you sure it isn't vodka? You know that you can't drink hard liquor."

"I tasted it to be sure. It's Spite. And yours is beer. To loosen up, you shy weasel."

"Eat my left bicep."

Liam leaned down, pretending to sink his teeth into her upper arm, and Olivia recoiled, disgusted. "You sit here, looking pretty. I'll go scope out some prospects, okay?"

"Okay." Olivia said, looking for the exit.

Liam walked away, confident in his batman mask. "Hello, good sir. Would you be interested in meeting my friend, Olivia?" Most guys thought she was cute, walking over there, but Olivia kept laughing and hiding behind furniture to make Liam mad.

"Hey man." Liam said, sad, coming up behind a black haired man who was dressed as a power ranger.

"Hello." The man said, turning around shyly. He eyed Liam up and down, blushing slightly.

"Would you like to meet my friend Olivia? She's really nice but doesn't like to meet boys."

The man's face fell, and he stammered out, "I'm gay, actually."

"Oh." Liam said, and then smiled. "No worries then. Nice to meet you! I'm Batman!" Liam yelled the last two bits as he walked across the party to his next victim.

"Zayn." The man said, kicking himself for not catching Batman's real name. And it obviously wasn't Bruce Wayne. But he was still hot.

\---

The party ended after a while, and Olivia dragged Liam off of the dance floor, the both of them sweaty, and Liam unsteady. "I like parties."

"No alcohol? No drugs."

"Just high on the party."

"Time for bed."

"You better believe that I'm falling asleep on the bus."

"Not if I do it first."

The two of them ran to the bus stop, still happy from the events of the day. This would be the last day that Liam saw Olivia for a while. But he didn't know that, and neither did she.


	18. Chapter 18

~You said it was over (it's over) (x2),

But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor (x2)~

 

 

"Hello." Liam said softly, walking into his girlfriend's apartment, picking up the dog that he loved. Then looking at his girlfriend, who he loves. He snuggled up to her on the couch where she was watching American Idol.

"I have questions." She said. He looked to her, and she didn't have a good look in her eyes.

Liam didn't want to identify that look in her eyes, so he, very guardedly, said, "Okay."

She paused the show. Liam cringed. "You said, the day that you were in the hospital, that you had tried ecstasy the night before. But, you weren't out, at a party, or anything. You were at home. With me."

Liam's eyes started watering. He didn't like confrontation. "I was feeling kind of down that day. I just wanted to try something. To make me feel better. I'm young."

Sophia sighed, knowing that he had perfect logic and that she had no right to persecute him. But she must have been looking for a fight that evening, so she continued with the issue. "You could have came and talk to me. It's not okay to do drugs, Liam."

"I know that." Liam said. "The doctor told me that that day in the hospital. Especially with this condition, I shouldn't be drinking or smoking or doing anything crazy."

"Have you ever done any other drugs? Like before?"

Liam didn't feel safe in that moment, but he knew that if there was ever a time to own up, it was now. "Yes."

"Really?" She turned to him, curious, and she took her dog from him.

"I was addicted to heroin, then got clean for a while, and then went back to it, and have been clean for a while now."

"Define a while."

Liam felt like he was being attacked. "December. Was the last time."

Sophia's eyes widened. She didn't know what to say. Liam had never really told anyone. No one ever knew about his drug habits - except for Alex. Alex got it. Because Alex was the same. But Sophia was privileged, went to a private school, didn't understand why people did the things that they did.

"December." She repeated.

"Please don't be mad." He squeaked. "You're mad. Oh no."

"How did I miss it?" Sophia said. "That you were a drug addict." Liam kept silent on the bit about the ecstasy, and how it was his routine for so long to take it every day, and how much he loved it. That would probably piss her off.

"I didn't want you to know. It was my personal struggle. Has been for a long time." She looked at Liam, and it was almost like she saw right through him.

"Do I even know who you are?"

"Yes, Sophia." He said, voice breaking. "I'm the sweet guy who gave you your coffee every day and made dog treats for Apple. The one who makes you homemade gifts for birthdays and holidays, and gives out candy on Halloween. The one who goes to the dog park just to see the dogs. The person who helped your sister come up with a playlist for her wedding."

"Stop it." She said, tears in her eyes. "You are not that person."

"Yes I am." Liam tilted his head to the side, confused. "So, yes, I'm an ex-drug addict. That's me, and I have to live with that fact. That half of these marks on my arms are from dirty needles, and the other half are from IV's. That's my curse to live with. It shouldn't be yours."

"I can't believe I wasted so much time on you."

"Wasted?" Liam questioned. "Okay. You're really mad about this." He stumbled over his words, not knowing what to say.

"We fight all the time. About money and everything and now there's this? This is the universe saying, sorry, you're not soulmates. Please exit now, Liam."

"What?"

"Go!" She yelled at him. "I don't want to see you here ever again!"

Liam didn't say a word, just let the tears fall as he ran out and slammed the door behind him.

\---

L: sophia broke up with me

O: wtf?!?

O: i'll be over as fast as I can

L: don't bother, i have work soon

O: take the shift off

L: it's too late for that now

L: love you, okay? You working tomorrow?

O: yea

L: kk, i'll swing by before it opens and we can talk, okay?

O: see you then!

\---

Liam sat in silence in his dingy apartment for far too long before he took the bus to the convenience store where he worked. He put on his uniform, and noticed how alone and empty the store felt that night.

It was 11 o'clock. On a Saturday. And the city was sleeping. It was New York, the city that never sleeps, but that night, it did. Liam rested his elbows on the counter, he stared at his track marks, thought of all of the bills that he couldn't pay.

And he finally snapped.

I'm going to burn this building to the ground, he thought, a manic look in his eyes. He was angry, he was sad, he was hurt. And he was ready to do some damage.


	19. Chapter 19

~But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor, yeah,

You said it was over, you said it was over~

 

 

Liam abandoned his job as a cashier, going straight to the rack full of mini donuts. He ate one package of each flavor. Powdered. Chocolate. Glazed. Crunchy. And after the sugar began to kick in, he grabbed the baseball bat that was under the counter for protection, and began causing some real damage.

The most satisfactory thing was smashing the glass on the freezers that held the drinks.

He knocked over the nacho machine, cheese spilling on the ground.

He spilled all of the candy onto the ground, shoving several into his pocket for later. Then he made himself a giant slushie, took all of the cash in the cash register, and walked out of the store with the baseball bat in hand.

But at some point during his manic state, the store manager had tapped into the feed from the store, and he called the police.

Liam Payne was tased the second he reached the edge of the parking lot, and his skinny body, filled with sugar and rage, fell to the ground.

\---

Liam was silent as his mugshot was taken, and his fingerprints too. He was cooperative, and the police were surprised by how nice he was. Not that they cared. They just threw him in the jail cell with all of the other crazy people from the night. The drunks. The graffiti artists. Liam just closed his eyes and napped on the bench.

After a while, they let him make his phone call, which was to the only person who ever cared about him. Olivia.

"Hey, Liv." He said, voice hoarse.

"What happened?" She said, knowing that he would never call this late.

"I had a mental breakdown and now I'm in jail."

"Jesus Christ, Liam." She said, cursing up a storm. "I'll come see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay." He said, not knowing what to say. His emotions had been turned off like a switch. "I'll probably be in jail for a while."

"Do you want me to keep your stuff at my house?"

"That'd be nice." He said. Again, no emotion.

"I love you, okay?"

"Love you too, Olivia."

The police officer motioned for him to hang up the phone, and he did. He went back to the cell for a while, where he stared at the wall, trying to make himself as small as possible and not cry. He was young. He was stupid. But he wasn't that young. And he shouldn't be that stupid.

He had so much to worry about. How would he get dialysis if he was in jail? Would they just let his kidneys die and not care about him?

Would Olivia be okay without him? Would Sophia even care? Would his mom even know about what was happening in his life?

When he finally started crying, he realized that everything would be better if he had his family with him, helping him through life's hard bits. But he didn't. He was alone.

\---

Liam didn't know how long he was in that cell before another police officer came back. "Liam." He said, gesturing to the skinny brown-haired boy. Liam came to the door and was led out, to an interrogation room.

Liam knew that he had a right to a lawyer, but he didn't think that one would get there until the morning. Or that he would be so well-dressed. "Better break out the old checkbook for this one, mate." He said, looking at the police report. "What did that nacho machine do to you? And why are they so expensive?"

"Who are you? Are you my lawyer?" Liam said, sitting down. His cuffs were taken off.

The man kept talking, ignoring Liam's question. "I gotta pay for all of this, and pay to have that wall that he graffitied repainted. Jeez. I do not make any of this easy on myself. Hi, Liam."

"Hello." Liam said, a bit ticked off.

"You look very tired. I just need to finish up this paperwork, and then you can head on home."

"What? Are you my lawyer?"

"No. I'm Simon Cowell, you daft idiot."


	20. Chapter 20

~But your clothes say different on my bedroom floor, yeah~

 

"Is that supposed to mean something? Am I supposed to know who you are? Am I being Punk'd or something?" Liam asked, taking note of the cameras in the rooms.

"I like you. You're a fiery one. You'll be a good addition, I think so." He finally addressed Liam again. "Once I pay off the store manager, he isn't going to press charges and you'll be free to go."

"Why?" Liam asked, eyes narrowing at this businessman.

Simon held his hand out, a business card in between his fingers. "Meet me at this coffee shop, tomorrow morning. 10 o'clock on the dot. I'll explain everything then. I've got to get off to bed."

"Okay." Liam said, still very confused. "How do I know this is fake?"

"These nice police officers are about to let you go. That's how you know this is real. I'll even pay for an Uber to take you home, okay?"

"How am I going to repay you?"

"I'll tell you in the morning, alright? Sounds good." Simon waved over to the window on the door, and the police officers began to escort Liam out. "Find me the little graffiti artist next, alright? Malik is his last name."

Liam looked at the business card. It had the name of a coffee shop on it, and Liam knew that there was a bus stop right in front of it. And right in front of the coffee shop was a sleek black car. "Are you Liam?" The driver asked, in an Italian accent.

"Yes." Liam said.

"I'm your Uber."

Liam got in the car, the leather seats feeling divine under his tired and worn body. He had just demolished a store, and was getting off scot-free? He didn't understand yet, but he knew that he had to call Olivia.

"Liam?" She asked, voice light. It was around four in the morning.

"I don't know what's going on yet, but some weird businessman just bailed me out."

"That sounds really sketchy, Payno."

"I've got to get some sleep, okay? Go on to work, okay? Call you this afternoon?"

He didn't call her that afternoon, though, because his mind was filled with the excitement of a job offer.

\---

When Liam got back to his apartment, he looked around at everything. He made himself a nice breakfast, watched the sun rise over the city.

As he went to bed, ready for a small nap before he had to get up again, he analyzed the card. The Aurora Coffee Shop. Liam flipped the card over, seeing two names on the card. Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik. That must have been the graffiti artist Simon was talking about.

After making sure that he would have enough time to get to the coffee shop by ten, he flicked the business card onto his Bedroom Floor.

Everything would surely be different when he woke up.


End file.
